A group covered the statue of Thomas Jefferson on the University of Virginia campus on Tuesday night one month after violent protests.

The group marched on campus around 8 p.m. on Tuesday with Black Lives Matter signs, and three people were seen sitting on the statue covered in black, according to WVIR in Charlottesville.

A sign on top of the covering said, "TJ is a racist and rapist."

Other members of the group read a list of demands, which included removing Confederate plaques on the Rotunda and banning white supremacist hate groups from campus.

The protest comes just one day after a report from the Deans Working Group said UVA could have improved their response to the Aug. 11 violence in three key areas:

The intelligence sought, received, and acted upon by the University administration

The policies the University had in place to govern protests and demonstrations

Application of existing protocols for responding to a demonstration that did not conform to past pattern, i.e., a protest by large numbers of people carrying torches and acting in an intimidating and violent manner towards members of the University and Charlottesville community on Grounds.

UVA President Teresa Sullivan issued this statement Wednesday after the Jefferson statue was covered:

Dear alumni and friends of the University,

Last night about forty students held a demonstration on the north side of the Rotunda and as part of this demonstration, they shrouded the Jefferson statue, desecrating ground that many of us consider sacred. I strongly disagree with the protestors’ decision to cover the Jefferson statue. University personnel removed the shroud. One person was arrested for public intoxication. These are the facts of the situation, regardless of what you may read in media accounts of those who have their own agenda.

Coming just one month after the August 11 torchlight march by 300 racist and anti-Semitic protesters, a march that became violent, this event has reminded us that there are critical and sometimes divisive issues related to the exercise of free expression in an inclusive community.

I would like to frame this issue somewhat differently. Thomas Jefferson was an ardent believer in freedom of expression, and he experienced plenty of abusive treatment from the newspapers of his day. He would likely not be surprised to find that when there are critical disagreements in the polity, those disagreements will find expression at his University. UVA's importance as a university is underscored by the fact that arguments about free expression, hate speech, and similar issues occur here. Sometimes these arguments are noisy.

In your own college days, many of you experienced protests and activism at UVA. The war in Vietnam, Watergate, 9/11, and many other issues have been discussed, debated, and protested at UVA. We are at another such point. I prefer the process of discussion and debate, and the debate is happening here at UVA with a wide variety of guest speakers, panels, and other opportunities to look at underlying issues. That there is also activism should not be a surprise to any of us.